Spooner's second run through the AHL postseason was far stronger than his first.

By Dan CagenDaily News staff

The Bruins loved Ryan Spooner’s first season as a professional in 2012-13, one that saw him turn 21 midway through. He put up 57 points in 59 games for Providence and was rewarded with a couple briefs call-ups to Boston as an injury replacement.

Yet there was a bad taste left over the summer of 2013 when Spooner leveled off in the postseason. He had just five points in 12 games as the top-seeded P-Bruins went down in the second round of the Calder Cup playoffs.

“We challenged him right from the start [of training camp last fall],” assistant general manager Don Sweeney said last week. “He hadn’t been in a lot of playoff hockey. He didn’t have that before, he didn’t have the body of work. We challenged him and told him that’s when players step forward. You’re going to see shutdown defensemen, teams are going to hone in on you. He had a good training camp, some ups and downs, which is fine, but we said he needed to grow. He had some really positive moments.”

Spooner’s second run through the AHL postseason was far stronger than his first. The now 22-year-old starred in the brighter spotlight, posting six goals and nine assists in 12 games. His 15 points were the seventh-most in the playoff scoring race despite Providence’s elimination in the second round.

That capped a season of growth and change for Spooner, the Bruins’ top prospect. A seven-week recall to Boston in the middle of the season showed that Spooner had the talent to play in the NHL, but there were several refinements needed before he was a full-timer.

Spooner didn’t score a goal in 23 NHL games this season and never came all that close. The team asked him to be more aggressive for his own offense, something Spooner talked about taking to heart in March.

“From a goalscoring perspective, where do the goals come?,” Sweeney said. “Some guys can make plays and I think he’s a pass-first type of guy. He’s going to be a catalyst in that regard. Some people will take that away. Also being harder in puck battles, being harder on pucks — it has nothing to do with running anybody or hitting anybody, but getting in there.”

Some other highlights from a season-recap conversation with Sweeney, who oversees the Bruins’ player development system.

- Another center who posted big and encouraging Calder Cup playoff numbers was Alexander Khokhlachev. The Russian pivot had 9-5—14 totals in the 12 games.

It capped a strong second half for Khokhlachev, who as a first-year full-time AHLer, needed time to figure out the league and how to play in it.

Khokhlachev — or Koko, as everyone calls him — had a respectable 10-17—27 line through his first 37 games. But he was scratched for one game against a physical team and coach Bruce Cassidy gave him some tough love.

From Feb. 4 on, Khokhlachev took off. He had 11-19—30 totals in the final 28 games of the season as a center and earned a call-up for Boston's regular-season finale, nearly scoring on Martin Brodeur.

“I think he could play both [center and wing], but part of the Carter Camper trade was to address a need, and part of it was we believe Alex can step up and play in those situations,” Sweeney said. “We were able to spread those minutes more towards Alex. … Butch had been hard on him. He challenged him to be harder on the puck, and it was ‘OK, now you get to have a little bit of the candy.’ I think he responded.”

The 20-year-old Khokhlachev has nearly been traded at least once. Should the 2011 second-round pick avoid being sent elsewhere in a deal this summer, he and Spooner could challenge for varsity spots in training camp.

“Their interests should be highly pushed,” Sweeney said of Khokhlachev and Spooner. “We've moved players around the ice — Chris Kelly, Carl Soderberg, Tyler Seguin, they've all played the wing. We want [Khokhlachev and Spooner] to push those players with higher skill-set. Ryan is a high-end skater, Alex has improved there. Playing against bigger, stronger players is the next challenge.”

- On the back end, David Warsofsky is also challenging for a spot in the NHL.

The 23-year-old defenseman, who played six games with Boston, had 32 points in 56 regular-season games and added nine more in the playoffs. He doubled his scoring total from 2012-13.

“I thought David took a real step forward this year,” Sweeney said of the Marshfield native and ex-Boston University Terrier. “He was more accountable. I think his power play, his puck movement, his shot were positive. He scored some goals on the power play. I thought his confidence level took another step forward. He was rewarded for that. He came up [to Boston] and he found his niche. He should be in the same ballpark [as Khokhlachev and Spooner] and challenge [for a spot].”

“I think they have similar qualities,” Sweeney said. “Certainly in size, but they both have puck-moving attributes that you have the puck in the offensive zone. It's kind of stating the obvious. But David has NHL attributes. We look at it and we say, we want the best players. Guys that transition pucks, move pucks and obviously defending, that’s all important.”

The thought is that having Krug — a restricted free agent this summer due for a pay raise after a strong rookie season — and Warsofsky in the same defensive six-pack is too much little guy, especially for a Bruins management that often seems to have a strength requirement to be on its back end.

Sweeney disputed that theory.

“Johnny Oduya and Nick Leddy aren't the biggest guys in the world, but [the Blackhawks have] had some success in the last four years,” he said. “We look at it from the skill set and hopefully have success.”

Oduya and Leddy are both 6-feet tall, several inches taller than both Krug and Warsofsky.

- Goalies Niklas Svedberg and Malcolm Subban split the net all season, and that continued in the playoffs.

Subban (33 games, 2.31 GAA, .920 save percentage) had the better numbers in the regular season than Svedberg (45 games, 2.63 GAA, .910 save percentage). Sweeney admitted Svedberg was off his game after being passed over as the No. 2 goalie in Boston out of training camp.

“I think initially he was disappointed,” Sweeney said. “He had played very well in training camp and there was a little of a malaise around him. Once he got his head in the right mind, he had a very solid year. If you look at last year vs. this year in the playoffs, there's an improvement there. Playoffs are a different animal and I think he handled himself well. Had some struggles in certain games.”

In the postseason, Svedberg and Subban both got multiple starts, but Svedberg was the guy by the end. He had the superior numbers (nine games, 2.70 GAA, .905 save percentage) to the 20-year-old Subban (six games, 2.96 GAA, .888 save percentage).

Svedberg, a restricted free agent this summer, could jump into the saddle as Tuukka Rask’s backup. Johnson is an unrestricted free agent.

“We've had some internal discussions,” Sweeney said. “As far as where Chad falls, being an impending UFA, that’ll be Peter [Chiarelli] making the decision. For Sveddy's sake, I think it's important for him to understand, he may have slightly outplayed Chad [in camp], but Chad had the experience factor. He got the experience this season, and I think that trajectory was good for him.

“You look at the success that Chad had and we're hoping that Sveddy can capture that. In a perfect world, you'd like to do what you want to do. But in a cap environment, we had Anton [Khudobin], Chad, both did a great job. We think Sveddy could go in there. Guys have to do a good job in there.”

- Justin Florek had some impressive moments in cameos with Boston, including in the playoffs against the Red Wings. He played on the third line next to Carl Soderberg and Loui Eriksson, and scored a goal in Game 2 of the first round.

Florek had 19 goals and 19 assists in 69 AHL games. The left-hand shot could be in a group looking to replace Shawn Thornton on the fourth line.

“He can play in third, fourth line situations,” Sweeney said. “He's not going to be just an energy guy. We asked him to be a little more selfish this year. I thought he responded very well in that regard. He complements offensive players because he's responsible. Defensively, he's really responsible and he goes to the right areas. That showed up in spades during the playoffs. He had a chance to be in that environment. He's done a good job of acclimatizing.”

- On a young Providence team — 13 rookies played at least one game — Seth Griffith stood out.

A fifth-round pick in 2012, the 21-year-old Griffith was second on the team with 50 points (20 goals).

“I love the progression over the course of the season what Seth was going to do,” Sweeney said. “He wasn't in the lineup at the beginning of the year and he ended up with 50 points. That's pretty impressive. We've got some areas we want to address.”

Among the rookies, Sweeney also noted Anthony Camara found his game as a third-liner late in the season after early struggles, and Tyler Randell surprisingly surged into a role as a capable penalty killer.